


Smoke Rings

by lanalucy



Category: Battlestar Galactica (2003)
Genre: Community: wishlist_fic, Cross-Posted on LiveJournal, Gen, Getting to Know Each Other, Late Night Conversations, Marijuana, Season/Series 03
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-04
Updated: 2014-12-04
Packaged: 2018-02-27 00:39:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,129
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2672426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lanalucy/pseuds/lanalucy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><b>Summary</b>: Smoking and Talking.<br/><b>Prompt/Prompter</b>: Late night Caprican herb heart-to-heart/bonding conversation between Laura and Kara on New Caprica. (Conversation can go wherever your Muse wants to take it. Loving the wrong men, how screwed they all are with the NC mess, opinions of Baltar, memories of before, etc.) <b>laura_mayfair</b><br/><b>Warnings</b>: references to “illegal” drug use<br/><b>Disclaimer</b>: RDM said we could.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Smoke Rings

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to newnumbertwo and laura_mayfair for beta duties and title brainstorming.

Kara was sitting in her ‘living room’ watching the bright spots marking the battlestars in the sky above her. She never thought she’d be sitting somewhere missing her tiny rack on _Galactica_.

“Got a light?”

Kara looked up. “Didn’t know you smoked, Madame President.”

“Laura. Didn’t until we landed here.” Laura sank gracefully down at Kara’s side. “This is pretty. Almost cozy.”

Kara dug into her pocket for the lighter. She didn’t know why she was even still hanging onto the thing. No cigars on this frakkin’ planet. “This was going to be my house. Well, Sammy’s and mine.”

“Was?” Laura brushed back a stray hair and took the lighter.

“Don’t see the point now. Doesn’t feel like home. It was a stupid dream, anyway.” She didn’t mention that the space was now overrun with memories of Lee and how for a few hours, it had actually felt like she could have everything she’d ever wanted. Her very own Bright Shiny Future. When Laura blew out a stream of smoke, Kara turned, startled. “Where’d you find weed, Laura?”

“Want some?” Laura held out the fat cigarette.

It’d been a long time. A few times when she was a teenager. Once with Zak. Gods, Zak. Lee. _Frak_. “I’d love some.” She took it, held it between her lips for a deep draw. When she let it out, she handed the cigarette back to Laura.

“You’re quiet tonight, Kara.”

“Most people would think that’s a good thing.”

Laura took another lungful of smoke, then let it trickle out. “Those people don’t know you - quiet isn’t you. What’s wrong?”

“There’s nothing to do here.”

“So you’re bored? If we’re going to make this planet our home, there’s a lot to do.”

Kara snorted. “Home. Right. I could live here fifty years and it would never be home.”

“You miss Caprica?”

“Not the place. The feeling.” Kara shook her head. “I guess _Galactica_ ’s as close as I’ll get now, and I’m sitting down here instead. For what?”

“Hmmm.” Laura nodded. “So you’re not feeling bored. You’re feeling useless.”

“Yeah. Maybe. I guess.” She took the stub from Laura. “Aren’t you?”

“It was a big change, Kara, but no. Being the President of the Twelve Colonies wasn’t something I ever wanted. And here…here I get a chance to get back to my roots, to really make a difference.”

“By being a schoolteacher?” Kara was skeptical. “So you really like it down here?”

Laura chuckled. “I didn’t say that.” She held out the stub. “You want the last drag?”

She was feeling mellow, mellow enough anyway. “Go ahead.”

Laura inhaled the last of the weed, and when she let it out, Kara took a deep breath. After a few minutes of silence, Kara laid back. “I was watching the ships.”

Laura reclined next to her, looking up at the same stars. “It may not feel like home, but it’s beautiful here. The sky over Caprica was never this clear.”

“It was worse when I was back there for the Arrow. It was like the sky was permanently cloudy.”

“Was it bad, Kara? I never asked you.”

“It was…eerie. Quiet. No dead bodies anywhere. The air smelled strange. Every little noise was cause for alarm. My apartment hadn’t changed any, though.” She cut off a laugh. “It was still as disgusting as ever.”

“I’m glad you got back to the fleet safe, Kara, and not just because you brought the Arrow back. Bill and Lee were beside themselves after you jumped away. It put them at odds with me and with each other.”

Kara didn’t say anything. What _could_ she say?

Laura sighed. “Which one’s _Galactica_?”

Kara scooted closer so she could point them out. “Those two right there? That’s them. The brighter one is probably _Pegasus_ , so the other one.”

Laura nodded. “Hmmm.”

They lay there quietly for several minutes, just the sounds of the night and their breathing breaking the silence, their hands clasped together.

“I miss the Old Man.”

Laura squeezed her hand. “Me, too.”

Kara held her breath a moment, then sighed in relief when Laura didn’t ask the next obvious question. _Do you miss Lee?_ She might possibly have smoked enough to tell Laura the truth.

“So you don’t like it down here, Laura?” Kara turned her head just enough to see Laura’s profile.

“It’s awful. Cold and inhospitable. No wildlife. I can’t believe this is where the gods intended us to settle. And all this mud.” She shook her hand like she was covered in it.

Kara nodded. “It is muddy. And cold. If you’d won the election, would we have stopped here?”

Laura hmmed. “Maybe. For a break. Let people set foot on solid ground for a little bit. Explore the planet, see what kind of resources we could find. Then set off, refreshed and determined again.”

“Resources like weed,” Kara giggled.

“Like weed. That was a good find.” She laughed, then covered her mouth. “Gods. If my mother could hear me now.”

Kara was silent. She’d left her mother behind a long time ago.

Laura rose to her elbow suddenly. “Did you lose anybody in the attacks, Kara? Parents? Friends?”

She sat up and put her arms around her knees. “Everybody I loved was either dead or on _Galactica_. Thought Helo was gone for a while.” _Zak_...

“So Bill and Lee were your family?”

“The Old Man, yeah. I hadn’t seen Lee since Zak’s funeral.”

“You missed him.”

She shook her head, but answered, “Yeah.”

“I didn’t have anybody to miss. No one still alive, anyway.” She put her arm around Kara’s shoulders. “I’m sorry.”

Kara leaned in until their heads touched. “Me, too.” She sat there for a few more minutes until she realized Laura Roslin was shivering. “We should get back. Sammy’s probably wondering where I am, anyway.” She stood and held out a hand. “C’mon, Madame President.”

Laura fluidly rose to her feet. “I think once you’ve smoked weed together, you’re on a first-name basis, Kara.”

“I’ll try to remember.”

They started walking back toward the settlement. “It’s a nice spot you picked, Kara. You mind if I visit?”

“My house is your house, Laura. You don’t even have to bring weed every time.”

“That’s good.” She laughed and swerved around a large rock in the path. “It’s not drying as fast as I’d like.”

“You should talk to Chief. He made a frakkin’ still out of spare parts. I bet there’s something up on _Galactica_ he could use to make a heat lamp or fan or something. The Old Man wouldn’t mind, if it’s for you.”

“Mmm.”

Kara walked Laura to her tent, then went to find Sam. She wondered idly if smoking some weed would be good for his cough.


End file.
